NBA: 76ers can't cool down Heat

Miami Heat's LeBron James, second from left, goes up for a dunk as Philadelphia 76ers' Thaddeus Young, from left, Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner watch during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA — At some point — between the reverse dunk in traffic and the unofficial breaking of Jrue Holiday’s ankles — LeBron James turned the crowd.

He also turned the 76ers’ defense inside out. For a little while, at least.

The second half belonged to the Sixers, with Thaddeus Young and Holiday turning up the offense. They momentarily took the lead before bowing to the Miami Heat, 98-94, Wednesday night.

The Sixers (24-40) were going for their biggest win of the season. And they almost had it.

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After drawing to 91-all with Holiday’s drive-the-lane dunk, with 1:20 to go, James got the last laugh by hitting one of two free throws to put Miami back in the driver’s seat. The Sixers committed a turnover on their next possession and James, after missing his initital shot, got a little help from Dwyane Wade on a tip-in on the follow.

That put the Heat in front, 94-91 with 29.4 seconds to go, and they never looked back. Dorell Wright’s corner 3-pointer with 18.0 seconds remaining made it 96-94. James countered with a pair of free throws, the Sixers followed with a miss at their end of the floor and the game was over.

The win gave the Heat (49-14) their 20 th consecutive victory, the third-longest streak in NBA history.

That close. The Sixers came that close to national relevance on highlight shows, even if only for one night. They came that close reenergizing a fanbase that has grown fickle over late-season wins that could jeopardize their standing for a lottery pick in the upcoming draft.

That close.

Young had a huge night, per the norm of late. He had 16 points in the third quarter alone, on his way to 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Sixers. Holiday also stepped up his game, turning in 21 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.

James (27 points) had himself a game, but the Heat’s contributions to the win column this season have come via the sum of their parts.

There’s a reason Miami has been so successful. Actually, several reasons. Because teams have to devote at least two sets of eyes to containing James, outside shooters like Shane Battier and Ray Allen are left unattended. Because James does so much on the floor, the Heat are able to space out the times when he and Dwyane Wade are playing together.

When James and Wade do share time in the backcourt, it’s a scary prospect.

And they make it look so simple, too.

James played all 12 minutes of the first quarter, so he sat a good chunk of the second quarter. But when he returned James was stellar.

With half the quarter gone by, and Miami trailing, 32-31, James nearly took Holiday out of his shoes. He crossed up the Sixers’ All-Star guard at the top of the key, going right to left and drawing a foul for a conventional 3-point play that gave the Heat the lead for good.

James wasn’t done. Off an inbound play at the other end, he snagged a pass intended for the Sixers’ Spencer Hawes, trucked down the floor unabated and threw down a one-handed slam, putting the ball behind his head before doing so.

Not to be outdone — by himself — James caught the ball at the top of the arc two possessions later, sliced through traffic and hammered down a reverse dunk.

By the time James had finished off the assembly of his nightly highlight reel, he and the Heat were able to take a 51-39 lead into the locker rooms at halftime. Miami closed out the quarter on a 20-7 run.

So much for that one-point lead early in the second, because the Sixers never got a sniff of that for the rest of the night.

To be fair, it wasn’t just James inflicting damage. The Sixers had it coming from all angles.

That didn’t keep the Sixers from taking the lead in the fourth, though, using a crazy 15-2 spurt to do so.

Dorell Wright got things going with a sequence in which he canned a 3-pointer, then swiped a backcourt pass and headed the other direction for a fastbreak slam. That triggered a timeout call from the Heat’s bench.

Out of that stoppage, the Sixers kept their feet on the pedal. Hawes hit a midrange jumper then, at the other end, pulled down a defensive board that led to a Holiday 3-pointer. Off yet another Miami miss, Evan Turner, on the receiving end of a half-court pass, pumped an oncoming defender into the air for an uncontested layup. Another bucket by Holiday capped the run, and gave the Sixers an 87-84 lead.

The capacity crowd at Wells Fargo Center was standing in awe.

It wasn’t meant to be, however. Not with the Heat turning the South Philly building into their personal playground in the final moments.